The present invention pertains to the art of image manipulation and averaging. It finds particular application in conjunction with the blending of medical diagnostic images with different properties from CT scanners and other diagnostic imagers and will be described with particular reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated, that the invention will also find application in conjunction with the combining of images from other sources and for other purposes such as TV or video images, satellite reconnaissance images, astronomical images, and others.
Heretofore, the data from CT scanners has been filtered with different filter or transfer functions and reconstructed into an image representation. Some filter functions increases smoothness of the data. Others emphasize edge or boundaries. Yet other filter functions provide high resolution. Various other filter functions provide other known enhancements. However, with some types of medical studies, sharp edge contrasts are important, with others resolution, with others smoothness, and with yet others various combinations of these and other image properties. Commonly, a filter or transfer function that is appropriate to the type of diagnosis to be made is selected in advance. This advance selection of the filter or transfer function provides no opportunity to adjust the edge enhancement, smoothness, and other image properties of the viewed image to optimize its diagnostic value.
Various other types of medical diagnostic imaging are in common usage, such as digital x-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, and the like. Each of these and other imaging modalities produces images with different qualities or characteristics. Some distinguish better among soft tissue, others image bone more clearly, yet others are ideally suited to imaging blood flow and the circulation system, and the like. In most instances, a single modality is selected in accordance with the type of diagnosis to be performed. Sometimes images from a plurality of modalities contain important but different diagnostic information.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a new and improved method and apparatus for enabling the viewer to optimize the image characteristics after the data is collected, reconstructed, and displayed.